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A Bradley Manning Pride Contingent joined the San Francisco Pride parade on Sunday, June 26th.
Dedicated to equal human rights, Army Private Bradley Manning stood openly
against Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now is imprisoned as the alleged
WikiLeaks whistle-blower. Bradley faces life in prison, and even the death
penalty, for sharing the "Collateral Murder" video and files pertaining to the
Iraq War, Afghanistan War, and Guantánamo.
Peter Tatchell, a British activist well-known for his work with LGBT social movements, has heralded Bradley Manning as a " gay hero."
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See Also:
San Francisco Pride Parade Vegetarian Outreach |
 4th Annual Watsonville Pride March, August 28th 2011
Previous Related Indybay Feature: Rally to Oppose FBI and Grand Jury Political Attacks
On June 17th, about 75 LGBT activists protested outside the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, which accepted Israeli government sponsorship and financing for the second year in a row. The Brass Liberation Orchestra was on hand to provide a spirited soundtrack. QUIT! launched the campaign to get Frameline to divorce the Israeli Consulate in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, the festival did not accept Israeli sponsorship, after having done so for years. But last year, under pressure from the consulate, the new festival director and executive director renewed their partnership with the Israeli government.
Activists chanted "Frameline Frameline Shame Shame Shame, No Apartheid In Our Name" and "I'm an angry queer, and I'm here to shout, Israeli Consulate, get the f*** out!" Leafleters offered filmgoers stickers to wear inside to show their support for severing ties with the Israeli apartheid government, as well as a $3 bill to give to an usher asking Frameline to return the blood money.
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While many people were out buying Valentine's Day gifts or flowers, same-sex couples in San Francisco were asking for the right to marry on February 14th. It was on this day in 2004 that former Mayor Gavin Newsom directed the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However in August 2004, the Supreme Court of California annulled the marriages that Newsom had authorized because they conflicted with state law at the time.
So every year since 2005 same-sex couples go to the City and County Clerks' office in San Francisco's City Hall on Valentine's Day and request to get married. And each year they are denied, so they hold a sit-in until they are arrested. The sit-ins usually do not disrupt other couples, but activists see the action as politically valuable because the non-same-sex couples seeking to marry on that day get a glimpse of the struggles that same-sex couples face in California.
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New Leaf, a 35-year-old San Francisco center that offered mental health and substance abuse services for low income, queer, and trans folks, has closed.
The center's board of directors announced that it was financially impossible to continue to operate, but critics say that Executive Director Thom Lynch's six-figure salary for part-time employment and the non-profit's unsustainable top down model were behind the center's troubles.
In response to the closure, Gay Shame organized a protest in front of the Department of Public Health with large banners including one that read "DPH is Disordered". Protesters dramatized their frustration with the department's lack of support for New Leaf with street theater, saying, "The closure of New Leaf LGBTQ counseling center is just one symptom in the Social Identity Crisis Kontamination (SICK)".
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On September 9th, a protest took place in San Francisco demanding the US government pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Several protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at the corner of Market and Castro Streets.
If passed, ENDA would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace for civilian, non-religious companies with over 15 employees, as well as federal, state and local governments, unions and employment agencies.
Currently, it's legal in 29 states to fire someone solely because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. And in 38 states, it's legal to fire someone solely for being transgender. Even in San Francisco, transgender workers face profound employment challenges and discrimination. A 2006 study by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Transgender Law Center found that 60 percent of transgender people in San Francisco earn less than $15,300 per year, only 25 percent have a full-time job, and nearly nine percent have no source of income.
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Previous Coverage:
LGBT Activists Push on Pelosi to Pass ENDA
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LGBT Groups Rally for ENDA
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Pass ENDA Protest
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Protest Targets HRC's Stand on Gender Identity in ENDA
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Activists Mobilizing To Keep Transgendered Protections in ENDA
From June 22nd-26th, people from across the US and beyond will be participating in a convergence with the mission of building the social justice movement in the US and around the world. However, Social Forum gatherings, which take place around the world, often recreate or perpetuate the social injustices which they seek to address. At the 2010 USSF in Detroit, Michigan, a Zionist organization based in Los Angeles, California called Stand With Us has been scheduled to lead a workshop that could have been called Why you should not support Palestine.
Arab Queers respond by writing: "We, the undersigned queer Arab organizations, are appalled by the US Social Forum’s decision to allow Stand with Us to utilize the event as a platform to pinkwash Israel’s crimes in the region. Stand with Us is cynically manipulating the struggle of queer people in the Middle East through its workshop entitled LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East.
"Our struggle is deeply intertwined with the struggle of all oppressed people, and we cannot accept that we are being used as a tool to discredit the Palestinian cause. Stand with Us would have everyone believe that the Palestinian cause is an unworthy one because of the homophobia that exists within Palestinian society, as if homophobia does not exist elsewhere, and as if struggles for justice are predicated on some sort of inherent 'goodness' of the oppressed, rather than on the principles of freedom, justice, and equality for everyone, everywhere. Stand with Us would have us all compartmentalize our beliefs, lives, and identities so that solidarity with the queer struggle would preclude solidarity with others."
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Zionists Welcome at US Social Forum
Update:
On June 23rd,
the leadership of the US Social Forum voted to cancel the workshop.
The planning committee announced, "the workshop 'LGBTQI Liberation in the Middle East' (Thursday, 24 June 10:00am to 12:00pm) has been canceled for violating the submission procedure and transparency requirements for all workshops, and for being in violation of the anti-racist principles central to the US Social Forum."
US Social Forum cancels exploitative Zionist workshop
Recent Related Indybay Features:
At Least 9 Killed as Israel Hijacks Gaza Flotilla in International Waters |
Queers Say No to Pinkwashing Israeli Apartheid
On Tuesday, May 18th, local LGBT groups rallied in front of the federal building in San Francisco to call on community members to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. ENDA would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Currently, it is legal in many states to discriminate against LGBT people and there are no federal laws protecting LGBT people in the workplace.
Community members, local groups, and politicians spoke about the importance of passing ENDA. Mason Davis of the Transgender Law Center cited a survey showing that 97% of transgender Americans experience employment discrimination and that they are twice as likely to experience poverty and unemployment as a result.
"For years now, hundreds of us have been working tirelessly...to make sure that ENDA would become a reality," Davis said. "In 2007, Congress told us that we needed to do the work to pass ENDA and we have been doing that work."
Davis reported that House speaker Nancy Pelosi has committed to making sure ENDA passes in the house in this congressional year. But community groups, politicians, and leaders are calling on everyone who cares about getting ENDA passed to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to pass the bill.
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